Virgil van Dijk has signed a new contract with Liverpool, the Merseyside club have officially confirmed.
He’s centre-half ✊
The story continues… @VirgilvDijk pic.twitter.com/bQInOG1ba2
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 13, 2021
The Dutch centre-back arrived to Anfield from Southampton in January 2018, following big controversies which led to Liverpool openly withdrawing their interest in his services the previous summer. The situation gradually changed over the course of the autumn of 2017, and Van Dijk soon made the switch.
His impact was immediate; Liverpool’s defence looked unbelievably stronger with him in their ranks, and he was absolutely crucial in their run to the 2018 Champions League final, the 2019 Champions League triumph and the 2020 Premier League title.
However, Van Dijk missed a large part of the 2020-21 season, following a horror tackle by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in October last year which caused a severe knee injury. He has only just come back to action, featuring in several pre-season games, and manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed he will be in contention to start the Premier League opener away to Norwich City on Saturday.
The 30-year-old’s journey started with Willem II, whose youth ranks he left in 2010 to join the Under-21 side at Groningen. He soon became a regular first-team player there, and after three years, he made his way to Celtic, where he won three Scottish Premiership titles. Southampton signed him in 2015 for around £14 million, and sold him to Liverpool two and a half years later for £75m.
The Netherlands captain has so far played 130 matches for the Reds in all competitions, scoring in every 10th appearance on average. His new contract is set to keep him on Merseyside until 2025.
